>> welcome to. i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. want to know about the nsa spying allegations. ellis island opened for the first time since hurricane sandy hit last year. and now there's a new fbi director. spain is now the latest u.s. ally complaining about those american surveillance programs. spain's elmundo newspaper

reporting that the nsa tracked 60,000 phone calls during a one month period. comes as a european delegation is already in the united states looking for answers. live from the white house, the european parliament committee, they wrapped up, what happened? >> their first port of call mike rogers. you may remember over the weekend he was saying on the sunday talk shows that europe should in fact be grateful for all the surveillance keeping them safe. much talk after that meeting those, a frank dialogue, ongoing dialogue but this is how the chairman of that european delegation put the problems as europe sees it off all of this nsa surveillance. >> we want to figure out why this kind of mass itch activities -- massive activities

happening. in the end we're fighting a battle in terms of security, we need to get that balance right. we're concerned too about security and we made that pretty clear. but also, there is balance to be struck in the privacy of citizens. >> in addition the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the european parliament is also part of that delegation, apparently suggesting that trade talks between the u.s. and europe maybe put in jeopardy if the surveillance isn't addressed to their satisfaction >> and have we had any response from the white house about these latest spying on individuals? >> we are monitoring that very closely. nothing official yet. unofficially, the white house did leak a story to the wall street journal, suggesting that president obama had no idea that europeans were being surveilled.

he immediately stopped the debugging of angela merkel's phone at least, if not other european leaders, but push back in the german media that not only the did president obama november of the spying on merkel but approved of it, going directly to the white house bypassing security. >> thank you very much. meanwhile, president obama helping to officially welcome his new fbi director. he watched as james comey was formally installed as the bureau's leader. comey took over for robert mueller. the president praising comey for his work. >> jim has dedicated his life to defending our laws. to make sure that all americans can trust our justice system to

protect their rights and their well-being. it's just about impossible to find a matter of justice he has not tackled, and it's harnlg -- hard to imagine somebody who is more uniquely qualified to cover all of it. >> blocked senior u.s. officials from getting john ashcroft to authorize that program that bush administration was wrapped up in. phone hack scandal that sank a british newspaper there. eight people including two former editors of the news of the world are facing charges of hacking phones and bribing officials. phil etner is live in london, it's wrapped up for today but what are the central issues in this case? >> well, del, the central issues

around phone hacking of private and public figures here in britain. there is also conspiracy charges, and that centers around trying to cover up said phone hacking scandals. this has got far-reaching ramifications because not least of which the fact that news corporation is a u.s. registered company. so there's an awful lot of eyes on this case. and as you say, it just started today, much, much more to come del. >> and pointing out if these people are found guilty they are looking at jail time? >> reporter: oh yeah, looking at jail time. now phone hacking charges carry a maximum of two years but the conspiracy charges could actually yield a life sentence. nobody really expects that that will come down but we are hearing from sources within one

of the defendants' camps saying that if they are found guilty they expect to get at least six years. del. >> and phil, the people whose phones were lacked, this is a who's who of hollywood, not only hollywood but england and british officials as well. >> that's right. yeah, this was a widespread just endemic system here and that's really one of the things that's so controversial about this is the fact that this looks like it was very widespread. one of the things that was most controversial an sparked public outcry was when it was revealed that a little girl, mille doweller had had her phone hacked and because they were hacking and checking the voice mail led the parents to believe the child was still alive. this really sparked more interest in the case and

possibly, as we go forward here, what will be a very long-running trial, we expect to hear revelations about how widespread this possible conspiracy was and whether rupert murdock himself was involved. >> thank you very much. >> meeting with syrian president bashar al-assad, his latest attempt to support peace talks. >> he is supposed to meet with senior officials of the syrian governmental as well as bashar al-assad himself. now he's going to hear what would be the condition for the syrian government to attend this geneva 2 conference, the syrian government has been very clear all along and really its position hasn't changed since

the geneva 1 conference back in 2012. it says it will not sit at the table with any rebel faction that took up weapons or that has foreign support. so that basically puts out of the equation the entire syrian national council. what damascus has been trying to do is trumpeting a patriotic opposition, one it would speak to. but many in the syrian national council that would tell you this is a hand picked opposition that in the end would actually put forward the interest of bashar al-assad himself. so a very difficult situation there. coupled by the fact that you have an opposition that is fragmented, 19 rebel groups, quite influential on the ground, had issued a statement saying that it will consider new england who actually go to those -- actually go to those talks, if they do happen indeed, would go against the activation of the syrian revolution.

and then also you have among the regional players not much of a unity there. al brahimi has been trying to go to saudi arabia, has been angered since russia and washington did not go ahead with the strike. it's also very angry about the international community and its position through syria's use of chemical weapons and the entire chemical weapons point. very serious situation, these are talks about the talks. he is gauging the temperature trying to figure out whether he should issue the invitations to that conference in the first place, or it is a useless effort. >> roda thank you very much. for the first time since superstorm sandy pounded the northeast almost a year ago, ellis island option to visitors. while some exhibits remain closed, visitors are able to see

the great hall, our john terrett is live on the island, i understand we have some numbers now we know how much it cost to restore ellis island. what can you tell us? >> we do. and we know this because the national park service that runs ellis island and the statute of liberty has now told us. the damage after hurricane sandy as liberty and also ellis island is just upwards of $77 million and here at ellis island the cost is going to be $71 -- 21 million. one day we will, del, clearly one day there will be, when it lapse again if it happens again then they reckon that instead of being closed for a whole year they will be able to turn things around in between two and four weeks. but don't let me tell you how bad things were a year ago when superstorm sandy roared in. here is the superintendent of

ellis island, david luchsinger. >> we lost all our telephone, data systems, electrical systems, everything was destroyed. our offices were destroyed. everything was destroyed. we have our offices back up and operational. we have interim power and everything. we've got the schematics done. we've started doing the permanent fixes and the rest of the fixes will probably take about seven months. and we should be fully operational, back up and better than ever in this spring. >> reporter: he told us he announced his retirement after many, many years with the national park service and he's going to go in january but he wouldn't go del until this job here at ellis island was done or got to a point where he could

get visitors back and if you look at my shoulder, you see the ferry boat and they are indeed coming back now. >> lady liberty 128 years old now, having a slight celebration. how are things going there? >> i can see lady liberty, we can't swing the cameras around, her 127th birthday. no coincidence that ellis island opened on her 127th birthday. it mrs. is the anniversary of hurricane sandy, opened quite deliberately. worthy of note some of the artifacts are still in storage in maryland. coming back slowly starting next month building up to spring of next year may the 1st. the fact of the birthday is poignant, there is a brass plaque part of a sonnet that was written by 'em nah lazarus who is a new york -- 'em na emma la.

give me your poor your tired your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. that was the spirit of ellis island certainly for the majority of its life, when the majority of people coming through here yearned for a new life. many of them headed through here. >> john terrett, thank you very much. are storms and travel conditions. >> thank you very much del. we have a storm moving through northwest and much cooler air push over the region. more comfortable across the plains you can see motionly clear skies, we do have some clouds pushing in from the northwest later in the day. this colder air is going the culminate with the warmer air pushing from the south and we could see potentially severe thunderstorms.

look how chilly in bismarck, only 33°. snow across portions of wyoming and montana actually it is snowing right now in billings all the way to helena. along i-15 you want to use caution. the friction between these two air masses is going to produce some volatile storms capable of producing hail and winds and isolated tornadoes across kansas and nebraska, del back to you. >> it's snowing from helena and back. up next, the taper statistics of rape on campuses. innovation changes our lives. opening doors ... opening possibilities.

taking the impossible from lab ... to life. on techknow, our scientists bring you a sneak-peak of the future, and take you behind the scenes at our evolving world. techknow - ideas, invention, life.

[[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country. and with them, a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you've heard angles you hadn't considered? antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours. >> the numbers are frightening. one in five women will be

sexually assaulted during their college years. all week our program america tonight is focusing on that problem in a special series of reports called sex crimes on campus. joie chen has a preview. >> my head was slammed into a bathroom door and then again next to the toilet and you know the assault proceeded. >> i remember putting my hands in the sink and looking at myself in the mirror and not even being able tofully comprehend what had--to fully comprehensive what had just happened. >> most assume will be a haven of learning and saiferlt, college. anne annie was a freshman and andrea, a sophomore, attending unc, chapel hill. >> they treat it as a compliance issue something that can be treated where a policy.

>> one in 20 college women in the united states will be the victim of a completed or attempted rape in a typical college year. according to the national voings against women--i women--violenct women survey. >> that has the sign of safety. >> since 1972 the u.s. department of education under title 9 of the civil rights act has said institution he receiving federal funds -- institutions receiving federal funds must receive an education free of sexual discrimination. many institutions said they were unaware of their obligation he under title nine to also protect students from sexual assault. >> we put more emphasis from preventing plagiarism than rape. they began to talk about the issue of rape at the university

of north carolina. >> we said unc isn't a bad place. unc is a representation of a larger cultural problem. >> the women began researching title 9, interviewing other victims of rape, utilizing social media and in january of 2013, along with form he unc administrator melinda manning and two others, they filed a federal complaint against the university of north carolina at the department of education. >> so when you have 18 and 19-year-old men and women who are holding the government account annal for rape -- accountable for rape it -- it boggles my mind. >> as for annie and andrea they have turned their are mission into a life that has been too long in shadow. joie chen al jazeera chapel hill. looking at sex crimes on campus begins a week long series of reports that begin at 9:00

eastern time, p.m. how it place into sex assaults and how victims can be made to feel that they are the ones to blame. well checking the big board wall street taking a wait-and-see approach today stocks barely moving you you can see. earnings from apple and facebook and comments from the fed reserve policy makers on the future those monetary stimulus plans. the dow up 23 points. apple is reporting quarterly earnings at the close of trading. apple unveiling its new ipad air, iphone sales and the outlook for the all important holiday shopping season. >> i think it's going to come down to iphone s and 5c sales.

the company already raised guidance after issuing the report that they saw record numbers for the first three days of sales. so you know, all signs point to sales being particularly strong. >> now despite the plair populaf its products apple stocks actually down this year. the new york stock exchange. , said twitter is expected to make it debut next week, expecting to sell 70 million shares, ranging in price from 17 to $20 each. it was freezing in parts of the country this morning and up next on al jazeera america your frigid local forecast depending on where you live.

for anything and everything for your smart phone. now tech developers are moving

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. here are your headlines. the group from europe already meeting with the chair of the house intelligence committee mike rog pers. james comey sworn in as head of the fbi. deputy attorney general during the bush administration. ellis island has opened for business. nearly a million artifacts remain in storage while those upgrades continue. it's a spot that can trace its origination back to the ancient olympics. but in the recent years the modern pentathalon..

>> comprises five very different disciplines can even trace its roots back to 708beck and the original olympic games. modern pentathalon is designed to simulate the skills required of a 19th century cavalry soldier. are fencing shooting horse jumping and running. but have the 19th century games have anything of relevance? >> i'm an artist in my sport. so obviously i tried to go with the media with the interest of young people and so we changed a lot. we have the one day format. first 1996, se centennial gamesn atlanta. we have to go away from the fire shooting, air pistol shooting,

and new environment, laser shooting, this was another big step. then a combination of shoot and run, this gives another exciting moment. >> how important is it for sport that you continue to have olympic recognition? >> you know the point is we are an elite sport. to run the five disciplines, to participate in pent@lon i pent s you need quite a bit of intelligence. we're not a mass sport, we are an elite sport. so if you are not in this box of olympic -- under the olympic rings, it will be very difficult to convince a government to support you. >> this event, the champion of champions, brought together the top talents in the sport.

frenchman christophe pat winning. >> this day is my day, fencing is good. and it's easy for me. >> so with its olympic status assured the bosses say the priority now will be to raise modern pentathalon with these, al jazeera doha. rm. >> well, the very chilly start in the northwest, winter storm on the move. while in the east coast look at mostly clear skies. it's a beautiful day to say the least. especially new york city battery park, if you are out there by the statute of liberty a gorgeous day. a few showers across maine

earlier on but high pressure will continue to build and it will turn out quite lovely. across the central plains, clouds are moving in from out of the west. major disturbance, dumping light snow across billings, helena, into portions of wyoming going to be a bit of a troublesome day if you are traveling on the roadways there. across the central plains, it will cool down, out of billings and where we see the difference in those air masses is where we could see some potentially volatile weather across portion he of kansas including wichita, damaging winds, hail and a chance of a few isolated tornadoes. we'll have to monitor that as the front moves into the east. fall, mum season, indefinitely across much of the country.

i saw this right outside of the building and i thought to share it with you. beautiful across portions of new york, 61 but it is going to cool down as those winds push out of the north. tuesday into wednesday. the rain is going to be falling make sure you grab an umbrella but this is from battery park and the freedom tower, beautiful skies all across the northeast today. as we travel over portions of the mid atlantic and the south, thunderstorms across alabama and into georgia but the major story is the snow into montana and wyoming, and falling into portions of the sierra. winter watches and warnings into effect until tomorrow morning, two to four inches of snow across portion he of southern montana back to you del. >> always greatly to remember our mums. thanks for watching al jazeera

america. whering techknow featuring shark robot, is next. stay with us. . nerds. tonight sharks. we are tracking some of the misunderstood cret cite cret cre dry cre creatures in the sea. we are behind the wheel of the fruifuture testing out the drivs car. tonight police, science and a